Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[beanflying]

If it helps the motivation I will finish the STL files for the 740B boxes for you, me and others 

Need to sort out an appropriate connector 1kV rated and Cable but I am planning to swap mine out on input and outputs.

[bd139]

You guys are going to cost me a 3d printer the way you are going with these test gear prosthetics

[beanflying]

You guys are going to cost me a 3d printer the way you are going with these test gear prosthetics

It's all about TEA Support and promoting further GAS

The rest of today was all about holding the TEA support gear in place. These were old at the time but then upcycled nearly 40 years ago by my Dad and some of his fellow Teachers with a little help from me. Old knee breaking school desks that were joined together and modded into workshop/garage shelves. They were never repainted at the time but yesterday out with the Angle Grinder to resplit them, wire brushes and sand paper and today a coat of rust killer and first coat of epoxy paint.

Should be OK for another 40 years not that I will likely be checking 

Yes there was still inappropriate Graffiti and chewing gum under the shelves 

[tautech]

You need a bigger shed Bean ! 

[beanflying]

You need a bigger shed Bean ! 

Always 

Cleanup and Painting has been done outside Mid 20's Sunny and light to no wind at present, typical Autumn weather for this part of the world. Bit cool and damp outside so piled them back inside for the night to cure.

EDIT: This work does also get @Tautech four feet for an ancient HP Scope too InternationaliTEA

[Specmaster]

You guys are going to cost me a 3d printer the way you are going with these test gear prosthetics

Hey, maybe you could print a new fence and post as well 

[tautech]

You need a bigger shed Bean ! 

Always 

Cleanup and Painting has been done outside Mid 20's Sunny and light to no wind at present, typical Autumn weather for this part of the world. Bit cool and damp outside so piled them back inside for the night to cure.

Wish I could say the same as it's been blowing like a SOB all day and just easing now @ nearly 10pm. 
Trying to get some paint on the house in these conditions is a PITA but as they say 'never do today what you can put off until tomorrow'. Must be an Irish saying I think. 

Hopefully tomorrow will let me slap some on. 

Random stuff:
Helped a buddy (my ISP) the other day collect an old telescopic triangular pipe and lattice reinforced telescopic radio mast in two 6m sections that the smaller slides inside the other and is extended to 10m by a hand winch.
It also has a pivot point a couple of meters from the ground so with another hand winch it can be laid on the ground. Quite simple and cool construction that anyone with basic welding skills could build.

Yep I must take some pics as it's here for some minor refurbishment and a lick of paint before being put into use to serve a small local community with a 5 GHz ISP service.
Oh and we're planting a 6m high pole here too for a 10km solar powered 5 GHz and 11 GHz back haul link to serve communities west of here.
Real interesting stuff that doesn't help at all to get all the other jobs done. 

[bd139]

You guys are going to cost me a 3d printer the way you are going with these test gear prosthetics

Hey, maybe you could print a new fence and post as well 

Hahaha 

Input jack assembly for the 87 arrived from TME arrived. I am super impressed. They dispatched it at 9:45pm last night from Poland and it arrived at my door at 10:15am here in UK today. At the same time I have to wait three fucking days for 1st class post to go half a mile up the road. 

[grizewald]

While I was poking around in something, measuring voltages and stuff using one of my VEPOTEs (Very Expensive Piece of Test Equipment), I realized that my probes are utter crap. If test equipment can be embarrassed, mine is. I could build some new ones from scratch but I figure that's not the best use of my time, right? Or is it? Which brings me to today's poll question:

What manufactured banana jack-ended test lead sets do you have that you couldn't live without?

And the bonus question:

What brand of un-shrouded banana jack-ended test lead set do you recommend (because my old gear won't accommodate shrouds)?

Please stop me before I decide that the only option is custom building my own!. 

I'm with Neomys Sapiens here, the Stäubli plugs and housings pictured below are great! They are also what ab-precision sell with their high end cable sets.

[med6753]

You guys are going to cost me a 3d printer the way you are going with these test gear prosthetics

Hey, maybe you could print a new fence and post as well 

Hahaha 

Input jack assembly for the 87 arrived from TME arrived. I am super impressed. They dispatched it at 9:45pm last night from Poland and it arrived at my door at 10:15am here in UK today. At the same time I have to wait three fucking days for 1st class post to go half a mile up the road. 

When a 3D printer can print a living clone I'll be first on the cue. 




I guess I've got a long wait. 

[beanflying]

You guys are going to cost me a 3d printer the way you are going with these test gear prosthetics

Hey, maybe you could print a new fence and post as well 

Hahaha 

Input jack assembly for the 87 arrived from TME arrived. I am super impressed. They dispatched it at 9:45pm last night from Poland and it arrived at my door at 10:15am here in UK today. At the same time I have to wait three fucking days for 1st class post to go half a mile up the road. 

When a 3D printer can print a living clone I'll be first on the cue. 

I guess I've got a long wait. 

Nope there is 'special sites' where you can order full size items already

[med6753]

Nope there is 'special sites' where you can order full size items already

They don't have that specific make/model. And I said "living" 

[neo]

When a 3D printer can print a living clone I'll be first on the cue. 

I guess I've got a long wait. 

Nerd mode on.

If i could print out a living breathing human from a book then that'd be perfect. Somebody needs to get on this! A man only has four or maybe five score and I've already spent one!

Nerd mode off

[Specmaster]

You guys are going to cost me a 3d printer the way you are going with these test gear prosthetics

Hey, maybe you could print a new fence and post as well 

Hahaha 

Input jack assembly for the 87 arrived from TME arrived. I am super impressed. They dispatched it at 9:45pm last night from Poland and it arrived at my door at 10:15am here in UK today. At the same time I have to wait three fucking days for 1st class post to go half a mile up the road. 

When a 3D printer can print a living clone I'll be first on the cue. 




I guess I've got a long wait.  [emoji14] [emoji14] [emoji14]

Knowing your luck, she'd turn out to be a lesbian [emoji1787]

[med6753]

Knowing your luck, she'd turn out to be a lesbian [emoji1787]

Better than an adam's apple and big hands. 

[bd139]

Quick F87 update ...

As received:



Jacks removed and area cleaned up:



New jacks installed. From TME.eu.



Job done:



Fully working and on the bench now. Total expenditure was £46.50 for the duff meter, £40.01 for the replacement jacks. Going price is £130 for an original 87 so this is a winner!

[mnementh]

  So have you ordered a second one yet because number 1 can't keep up

I CAN'T HEAR YOU! 

   Have you at least started construction on a nice House for it to keep it toasty and warm while it has no one to snuggle with? 

Third coat of Varnish on yesterday and Door Hanging done this morning now time to load Fusion and design the Magnetic Catches and Knobs to print.

Oooh... dat's noice. I'll take it... draw up the lease; I wanna move in this week! 

You guys are going to cost me a 3d printer the way you are going with these test gear prosthetics

You need one of these for your growing Fluke collection.     You're WELLL-COMMMME!!!

mnem
Currently in hour 927 of 2342-hour print:

[kj7e]

Fluke 189 is my favorite handheld DMM... ever.

[Neomys Sapiens]

While I was poking around in something, measuring voltages and stuff using one of my VEPOTEs (Very Expensive Piece of Test Equipment), I realized that my probes are utter crap. If test equipment can be embarrassed, mine is. I could build some new ones from scratch but I figure that's not the best use of my time, right? Or is it? Which brings me to today's poll question:

What manufactured banana jack-ended test lead sets do you have that you couldn't live without?

And the bonus question:

What brand of un-shrouded banana jack-ended test lead set do you recommend (because my old gear won't accommodate shrouds)?

Please stop me before I decide that the only option is custom building my own!. 

Answer 1: ALL OF THEM.
Answer 2: I hold the non-shrouded gold-plated stackable ones from Stäubli (MC) in highest esteem.
They also offer them with really good cables, so you don't have to make them yourself. You can't probably come up with a comparable connection, which is spot-weld or very durable crimp.
Also Buela300K from SKS. And their sliding shroud types.

Correct you NEED all of them and you still won't have the correct one in all cases.  I use a mix of cheap stackable Chinese ones (Good to around 10A) and then mix in some custom ones with gold flashed jacks and various tip options clips, DC jacks, BNC plus some R/C charge adapters to 4mm. I need to make another couple of sets of the heavy ones (10AWG back left) mainly for R/C and or load use. For really accurate nuttery type measurements I am sitting on a stash of Pamona fancy ones I just need to source some Teflon shielded cable to go with. There is some more in a drawer too!

Mixed colour sets of Cheap and Cheerful Chinese ones here eBay auction: #401732827336 but plenty of other options too.

Nope - I leave the chinese variety out. And now I have to order those Penguins Parrots.

[mnementh]

While I was poking around in something, measuring voltages and stuff using one of my VEPOTEs (Very Expensive Piece of Test Equipment), I realized that my probes are utter crap. If test equipment can be embarrassed, mine is. I could build some new ones from scratch but I figure that's not the best use of my time, right? Or is it? Which brings me to today's poll question:   
What manufactured banana jack-ended test lead sets do you have that you couldn't live without?
And the bonus question: 
What brand of un-shrouded banana jack-ended test lead set do you recommend (because my old gear won't accommodate shrouds)?
Please stop me before I decide that the only option is custom building my own! 

            
 
Here's what I bought: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg1876742/#msg1876742
Here's what came: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg1968395/#msg1968395
Here's what I made with them: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg1971296/#msg1971296

If you go to each of those posts, then skip a page or three back, and skim through a page or three after, you'll see how the whole process unfolded, and you'll see what worked (everything I bought), what tools are needed (big honking temp-controlled iron: MetCal w/3-4mm chisel or Weller GT-7), and what level of soldering skill is required (moderately advanced). I'll tell you it WAS a lot of work, but building patches is one of those viscerally satisfying activities... and when you NEED a patch and you HAVE the right one that YOU made... THEN the satisfaction is tenfold. 



Just finishing up modding an external power jack and a custom 15ft USB3.0 cable to connect my Kinect V2 to my PC; I wanna experiment with some software that uses one of these as a sensor for my Oculus Rift DK2. There are two avenues; use as a standard positional sensor for existing popular games, and enhanced mode that uses it for full body sensing, so you have the entire body represented, not just head, hands and torso extrapolated in between.

The stupid kit for adapting the custom-cable from the Kinect V2 (XBOX ONE) to PC is like $40, but I had everything in my stores of computer junk. In all honesty I feel this is a tidier solution anyways, plus the 5.5mm barrel socket means I can use pretty much any common 12V/2A-ish power pack I have lying around to power it. 

I figure worst case scenario, I have a rockin' 1080P webcam with built-in stereo mics and IR. And that can record all of the above, plus 3D positional data. 

mnem
*connected*

[mnementh]

When a 3D printer can print a living clone I'll be first on the cue. 

I guess I've got a long wait. 

Nerd mode on.

If i could print out a living breathing human from a book then that'd be perfect. Somebody needs to get on this! A man only has four or maybe five score and I've already spent one!

Nerd mode off

Mmmm yeah... I had similar dreams after watching "Weird Science". I grew out of it once I realized they'd still come with all the baggage from the book... and if they didn't... well, I don't have the patience for raising an adult-sized infant that's already full of adult hormones.

mnem
A quiet, normal life... is that too much to ask?

[mnementh]

https://youtu.be/htFotQi_-jY

https://lookingglassfactory.com/

It's Real. You can buy it NOW. It's about effing time. 

mnem
 

[Martin.M]

  .... for unknown C  (modern digital system)

[0culus]

  .... for unknown C  (modern digital system)

Very cool, if a bit specific in function.  BTW, I've been trying to reach you about that Tek plugin you wanted from my local surplus joint...do you still want it?

[Martin.M]

yes, I will contact you